The old Petty Building may soon be nothing more than a memory.

The building, which once housed an appliance shop, was demolished May 19. The City of Greenville hopes to begin the cleanup process of demolished structure soon. Its remains have been largely untouched since the East Commerce Street building was knocked down.

“We’re getting closer to being able to get everything cleaned up over there,” Mayor Dexter McLendon said.

After demolishing the Petty Building, the City learned that the adjacent building was also structurally unsafe, prompting negotiations with the building’s owner. According to McLendon, the building posed safety concerns for the workers who would be clearing the Petty Building site. The City hopes to purchase the building and then demolish it making way for a downtown park.

McLendon said as the process progresses he will seek input from the Chamber of Commerce of the Chamber’s board.

“We hope to turn that into a real nice area where we can have events downtown,” McLendon said in an earlier interview with the Greenville Advocate. “I’m not talking about a parking lot, but more of a park area with grass and trees. That’s what I envision.”

But first the City must clear away the debris from the Petty Building site and purchase the adjacent building.

“We’ve had an appraisal done, and I hope to enter into negotiations with the building’s owner within the next couple of days,” McLendon said. “This is going to take a while, but we’re working on it. The first thing we need to do is get everything cleaned up, and then we’ll go from there.”